The carefully coiffed men wearing suspiciously shiny shoes are at every major computer security convention.

They are there to remind hackers that law enforcement is always interested in their activities. They are also there to encourage security experts to become special agents.

But after responding to the agency's appeals for computer security experts, aspiring G-men hackers sadly say that their names will never appear on the FBI's Most Wanted Job Applicants list.

Although their technical abilities should allow them to qualify easily as agents, their ethics, age and/or physical fitness levels excluded them.

Mike Sweeny, fueled by renewed patriotism after Sept. 11, wanted to offer his 20-plus years of experience in computer security to the FBI. But he was disheartened by job requirements that required him to have a college degree, be under 37 years old, morally irreproachable ... and physically fit.

[more: wired]

The political hacking group known as Hacktivismo is about to unveil a peer-to-peer system that will shield online identities and permit secure, anonymous Internet use. Noah Shachtman reports from New York. [Wired News]

It's time once again for Hackers on Planet Earth, a convention of coders, security professionals, federal agents, quasi-social misfits and random brainiacs. Michelle Delio reports from New York. [Wired News]